course
noun · verb · adverb
Simple meaning
A connected series of events or actions or developments.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kawrsIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɔɹs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A connected series of events or actions or developments
A normal or customary sequence.
A sequence of events.
A programme, a chosen manner of proceeding.
Any ordered process or sequence of steps.
Education imparted in a series of lessons or meetings
“He took a course in basket weaving.”
verb
transitive
To pursue by tracking or estimating the course taken by one's prey; to follow or chase after.
To run or flow (especially of liquids and more particularly blood).
Move swiftly through or over
transitive
To run through or over.
transitive
To cause to chase after or pursue game.
adverb
colloquial
Ellipsis of of course.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A connected series of events or actions or developments
Used this way, course is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use course
- “He took a course in basket weaving.”noun
- “The river takes a southern course.”noun
- “If you persist in that course you will surely fail.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A mode of action.
Education imparted in a series of lessons or meetings.
A series of lectures dealing with a subject.
An integrated course of academic studies.
A regularly scheduled session as part of a course of study.
A catalog listing the courses offered by a college or university.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Work assigned to and done by a student during a course of study.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.